by Jean-Pierre Chupin, published 2006-08-01

Consciously engaging ourselves in a meaningful debate, we present two competitions organized by private investors eager to raise the stakes when it comes to architecture, all the while, being mindful of their responsibility to create public space: 91 residential high-rises from near and far, for the 2005 Absolute Ideas Architectural Competition in Mississauga and four projects for the Caisses populaires Dejardins of Drumondville from 1991. If the first competition, by the nature of its contemporary scale may impresse future architects with the audacity of its submissions and the quality of its winning design by the young and brilliant Chinese firm, Mad Office, the second competition is without a doubt more modest in budget and urban environment, yet is no less grandiose in architectural ambition. Many Quebecois architects will remember that its instigator, Professor Jean-Louis Robillard of l'Université du Québec à Montréal, known for his devotion to quality architecture and his love of polemics, was clearly looking to engage in a debate with Desjardins brass, by coercing provincial decision-makers to get involved in the early 1990s. To the equation « public spaces and private investors », he enthusiastically adds: « the promotion of young architecture ». In honour of the 25th anniversary of ARQ magazine (architecture québec), of which Robillard co-founded with Pierre Beaupré and Pierre Boyer-Mercier, we thought it appropriate to dust off this sometimes forgotten competition, by showcasing sections of ARQ number 65, just fifteen years after its original publication.

Lastly, due to the invaluable assistance of our partner in crime from l'Université Laval, Professor Jacques White, we are presenting the thirty projects that were submitted in the first phase of the Dolbeau Mistassini Performance Space, along with additional images of the laureate project of Croft Pelletier for the Wendake Huronne-Wandat Nation Museum.

With these 600 new images, the Laboratoire d'étude de l'architecture potentielle, by means of the CCC database, have over 5000 pieces of potential architecture available to the public. So who is ready for a debate on public space?